


Daryl Dixon You're Gonna Be The Last Man Standing (Whether You Like It Or Not)

by itslifethatscaresmetodeath



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-11-14 02:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18043418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itslifethatscaresmetodeath/pseuds/itslifethatscaresmetodeath
Summary: Daryl Dixon is the last man standing at the end of the world as his friends watch from beyond.





	Daryl Dixon You're Gonna Be The Last Man Standing (Whether You Like It Or Not)

He first noticed when everyone around him started to grow older, grayer, frailer...Everyone but him. It was like he was frozen in time, like someone had pressed pause just as he'd reached middle age. No one could figure it out and they stopped trying before long out of envy or fear or some shit.

And they just all died, eventually. One by one. And he just...didn't. Sure, he was pretty well used to loss by then. Amy, Jim, Jacqui, Sophia, Dale, T-Dog, Lori, Andrea, Merle (he'd died twice on him), Hershel, Beth, Bob, Tyrese, Noah, Denise, Sasha, Abraham, Glenn, Carl...but some were just *different* somehow. Not more important. Just different. They hit him in a certain way that it took him way too long to put his finger on. 

First it was Eric. Just a lucky shot during the Savior war did him in. That was hard, he and Aaron had been the first to make him feel welcome in Alexandria. It wasn't fucking fair. No one could ever say a bad word about the man.

Then it was Paul. Daryl has played that night over and over in his mind, every move, every decision, every mistake. Maybe Paul had been careless, maybe they'd underestimated their enemies but, in the end, Daryl knew he'd been wrong. He'd been just as reckless, just as cocky. He thought he'd been saving them...but he should have listened, trusted Paul. Then he'd been too late when it was the wrong fucking time to show up 15 minutes late with Starbucks. 

Aaron went not too long after, unable to take the loss of another love. And they'd been so fucking in love. Daryl envied it...he wanted to be a part of it but wasn't sure how the hell that would shake out. He wishes he'd at least told Aaron how he'd felt when he had the chance. Trusted him with his feeling like he knew damn well he could. Aaron deserved it. He was his best friend but he needed to tell him that there was more there. Something he'd never felt before, with Paul too. Hell, with Eric. But he'd been a coward. He wishes he'd told them all how he'd felt instead of hiding away, bottling it up inside and watching from afar like some creep. 

He shoulda but he didnt. Story if his life... and Aaron had sought his revenge alone and he'd lost. The only comfort Daryl could take in the whole thing was that somewhere, somehow, they might all be together...maybe?

He'd never never believed in god or heaven or an afterlife. Hell, that stupid nickname of Paul's had always bugged the shit out of him.

The rest had gone through the years, some lost to walkers and war, some lasting as long as their bodies would allow. 'Old' age took Maggie first - she never forgave herself for leaving Hilltop for so long, for not being there when Paul died. She knew she'd been in the wrong, shirking the responsibility she'd willingly taken on. Maybe out of spite against Rick, it was something, whatever other excuses she'd made that seemed stupid, at least for the price. She'd known damn well the man didn't want to or do well stuck behind those walls. It - the guilt- had aged her so fast. 

Carol was next, Ezekiel's death had been devastating. Then she'd lost Henry and Daryl supposed what took her in the end was a broken heart. He'd never forget the last thing she'd said to him. "Sorry pookie". Sorry for what? Leaving him to his cursed immortality? He'd shrugged it off and let her know it was ok to go. He'd make it on his own, always did. She passed on with a smile.

Then Michonne. They'd reconciled their differences long before her end, become close. He mourned the loss more than anyone, even himself, had expected. Well, anyone left that had known him...way back when. 

Judith and Gracie were the ones he took the hardest. Little ass-kicker hadn't made it to a ripe old age. She should have dammit, they both should have, but she'd gone out fighting, defending her people to the bitter end. His adopted daughter, Gracie, was at her side. Just like their daddies. 

Which brings him to Rick, who was, surprisingly, the last to go. He'd found his friend, his brother, *finally*. He'd never stopped looking and it paid off years after the explosion...Only to lose him a few weeks later. His fucking Dixon luck...

Well, as his Dixon luck would have it, he was wrong. Again. As usual, really. God, heaven, hell, that shit was still a mystery but the afterlife...100% fucking real. 

Every time he felt like he was being watched, decades - maybe fucking centuries, he wasn't keeping track anymore - after the last human, the last walker had died out...every time he felt like he wasn't actually alone, the hairs standing up on the back of his neck...that was his friends, his family, watching him from above. Waiting for him to join them in the great beyond.

They didn't know why he hadn't been granted release from his mortal body yet any more than he did. But, still they watched, waited, growing nearly as impatient as he was some of the time. But they would never give up on him. he'd get there eventually.

'Eventually' wasn't really good enough for Daryl. Patience had never been a virtue he possessed. So *eventually* he began to take matters into his own hands...


End file.
